The strangest movie performances in 2019
From Joaquin’s nerve-shredding role as Joker to Will Smith’s Smurf-on-steroids genie in Aladdin, 2019 brought us some weird and wacky performances.
Leigh Paatsch
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JOAQUIN PHOENIX IN JOKER
In the hands of Joaquin Phoenix, Joker is wild in a whole new, nerve-shredding way.
You may think you have seen it all before when it comes to The Joker. Fair enough.
But even if you believe acclaimed past interpretations of the Ace of Knaves by Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson have emphatically filled in all the blanks of this iconic, irredeemably insane character, Phoenix’s incredible portrayal will still come as a revelation.
EWAN MCGREGOR IN DOCTOR SLEEP
Ewan McGregor stars as Danny in this sequel to The Shining, once-upon-a-time an innocent little boy back in the day of The Shining, but now a down-and-out boozehound.
But McGregor struggles throughout Doctor Sleep to illuminate us about what is going on inside the addled head of this near-derelict dude.
READ THE FULL DOCTOR SLEEP REVIEW
WILL SMITH IN ALADDIN
Earlier in the year, a few awkward trailers and clips had thumbs trending downwards on the new Aladdin.
The general consensus was that Will Smith as the Genie looked like a Smurf that had been hitting the steroids way too hard.
While Smith’s motion-captured “out of the bottle” look is still the same strangely scaled (and far too blue) figure that turned off so many in the trailers, his Genie can also assume a more palatable, human form when needs be.
This allows Smith’s comedy smarts to kick in and lift the picture at the right times, especially once he starts building on an obvious rapport shared with Massoud as Aladdin.
THE CAST OF CHARLIE’S ANGELS
The trio of high-flying, haute couture heroines in this Charlie’s Angels reboot are comprised of a rebellious one, Sabina (Kristen Stewart), a conscientious one, Elena (Naomi Scott), and a learning-on-the-job one, Jane (Ella Balinska).
All three leads run hot and cold throughout, but so too does the movie, which never quite nails the right tone of flippant humour needed to keep an audience on-side.
READ THE FULL CHARLIE’S ANGELS REVIEW
SPECIAL MENTIONS:
MARGOT ROBBIE IN MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
DAMON HERRIMAN IN JUDY & PUNCH
READ MORE:
MOVIE DUOS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SCRAPPED
